Following what initially was reported to be a severe assault, a 26-year-old Red Deer man has been pronounced deceased after being taken off life support.

RCMP Major Crimes South have taken carriage of this investigation which is determined to be a homicide.

On March 29 at 6:07 a.m., Red Deer RCMP were dispatched to an apartment to assist with a male in medical distress.

The male presented with very serious injuries and was taken to a local hospital following which he was flown to a Calgary hospital and placed on life support.

An investigation into aggravated assault was initiated.

Tragically, on March 30, the male was pronounced deceased.

RCMP Major Crimes took on the investigation with the continued assistance of Red Deer General Investigation Section members.

Today, an autopsy was conducted at the Calgary Medical Examiner’s Office.

It has been determined that the manner of death was a homicide.

As per the Federal Privacy Act, the RCMP will not be releasing the name of this victim at this time.

This investigation is in the early stages and the RCMP are requesting that anyone with any information about this incident contact the Red Deer RCMP complaint line at 403-343-5575 or call your local police detachment.

If you want to remain anonymous, you can contact Crime Stoppers by phone at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS), by internet at www.tipsubmit.com, or by SMS.